Milt Hinton born Milton John Hilton (Vicksburg, Mississippi, June 23, 1910; d. Queens, New York, December 19, 2000), "the dean of jazz bass players," was an American jazz double bassist. Milt Hinton is one of the greatest jazz bassists to ever live. He has been nicknamed "The Judge" for his outstanding musical ability. Milt was born in Vicksburg, Mississippi, on June 23, 1910. He lived in Vicksburg until the age of eleven when he moved to Chicago, Illinois.

Ron Carter is an American jazz double-bassist. His unique sound and great swing have made him a long sought after studio man — his appearances on over 3,500 albums make him one of the most-recorded bassists in jazz history, along with Milt Hinton, Ray Brown and Leroy Vinniger. He also has a large body of classical recorded work as well.

Jimmy Garrison (March 3, 1933 - April 7, 1976) was an American jazz double bassist best known for his long association with John Coltrane from 1961 - 1967. He formally joined Coltrane's quartet in 1962 as a replacement for Reggie Workman and appears on many Coltrane recordings, including "A Love Supreme", & "My Favorite Things". During live performances of music by John Coltrane's group, …

Greig Stewart 'Chubby' Jackson (October 25 1918 - October 1 2003) was an American jazz double-bassist and band leader. Born in New York City, Jackson began at the age of seventeen as a clarinetist, but quickly changed to bass. Jackson performed and/or recorded with Louis Armstrong, Raymond Scott, Jan Savitt, Henry Busse, Charlie Barnet, Oscar Pettiford, Charlie Ventura, Lionel Hampton, Bill Harris, Woody Herman, Gerry Mulligan and others.

Stanley Clarke (born 30 June 1951) is an American musician and composer known for his innovative and influential work on double bass and bass guitar as well as his numerous film and television scores.

John Patitucci (born December 22, 1959) is an American jazz double bass and electric bass player, specializing in post-bop, jazz fusion and Brazilian jazz.

Percy Heath, (April 30, 1923 - April 28, 2005), was a jazz musician, most famous for his 40+ years as the double bass player for the Modern Jazz Quartet (MJQ). He is the brother of tenor saxophonist Jimmy Heath and drummer Tootie Heath, with whom he formed the Heath Brothers in 1975. Heath also worked with Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, and Thelonious Monk. At the age of 81, he released his first album as bandleader through the Daddy Jazz label.

Walter Sylvester Page (February 9, 1900-December 20, 1957) was an African American jazz bassist and leader of the Oklahoma City Blue Devils jazz orchestra from 1925-1931. He was born in Gallatin, Missouri, and his career began with Bennie Moten, performing with the seminal bandleader from 1918-1923. He later joined the Count Basie band, becoming part of a legendary rhythm section with Basie, drummer Jo Jones and guitarist Freddie Greene.

Charles Anthony Williams (born April 17, 1942 in Camden, New Jersey) is an American jazz bassist. Williams has gained prestige among jazz musicians as a solid supportive player. Since the early 1960s, he has made subtle swing, a precise rhythm and superb technique the landmark of his playing. He started his professional career in Philadelphia with Jimmy Heath, then played and recorded with the Gene Ammons/Sonny Stitt quintet (1960-61).

Curtis Counce (January 23, 1926 - July 31, 1963) was an American hard bop and West Coast jazz double bassist. The fruit of his 1956 studio collaboration with tenor great Harold Land, trumpeters Jack Sheldon and Gerald Wilson and pianist Carl Perkins was issued in 2007 on a double CD by Gambit Records. Counce died in Los Angeles, California, of a heart attack.

Wilbur Ware (September 8, 1923 - September 9, 1979) was a jazz double-bassist known for his hard bop percussive style. Born in Chicago, Ware taught himself to play banjo and bass. In the 1940s, he worked with Stuff Smith, Sonny Stitt and Roy Eldridge. In the 1950s, Ware played with Eddie Vinson, Art Blakey, and Buddy DeFranco. He is best known for his work with the Thelonious Monk quartet in 1957-58. In 1969, Ware played with Clifford Jordan, Elvin Jones and Sonny Rollins.

Butch Warren (born in 1939) is an American jazz double bassist who plays in the hard bop genre. He began playing professionally for his father, Edward Warren, who led a local band in Washington, D. C.; Butch was 14 when he began. He later worked with other local groups, including Stuff Smith's. In 1958, he moved to New York City to play with Kenny Dorham, and stayed in New York for the rest of his musical career.

Bob Cranshaw (born in 1932) is an American jazz musician who has enjoyed a long and distinguished career as a bassist of the first caliber. His career spans the heyday of Blue Note Records to his recent involvement in working through the Musicians Union to improve the lot of elderly musicians. Cranshaw has a unique sound based on a steady, walking beat appreciated by jazz fans who seek his records out.

Douglas Watkins (2 March 1934 - 5 February 1962) was an American hard bop jazz double bassist from Detroit. An original member of the Jazz Messengers, he later played in Horace Silver's and freelanced with Gene Ammons, Kenny Burrell, Donald Byrd, Art Farmer, Jackie McLean, Hank Mobley, Lee Morgan, Sonny Rollins, and Phil Woods among countless others in jazz. He was a cousin by marriage to bassist Paul Chambers, who was similarly prolific on record during this era.

Israel Crosby (19 January 1919-11 August, 1962) was an Jewish-American jazz double-bassist born in Chicago, Illinois, perhaps most notable for his work done with Gene Ammons, Gene Krupa, Fletcher Henderson, Horace Henderson, Raymond Scott, George Shearing, Ahmad Jamal and Teddy Wilson.

Ben Allison (c. 1966) is an American jazz double bassist and composer born in New Haven, Connecticut. He performs with the groups Peace Pipe, New Quartet, Medicine Wheel, the Kush Trio, and the Herbie Nichols Project (which he co-leads with pianist Frank Kimbrough). At the age of 25 he formed the Jazz Composers Collective, a New York City nonprofit organization, serving as that organization's Artistic Director and Composer-in-Residence.

Hank Van Sickle (born December 31, 1961 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) is an electric and upright bassist currently living and working in Los Angeles, California. His father Rodney Van Sickle is a classically trained double bassist who graduated from the Curtis Institute of Music and played in the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.

Jamey Aebersold (born July 21, 1939) is an American jazz saxophonist and music educator. His "Play-A-Long" series of instructional book and CD collections, the first of which was released in 1967, are an internationally renowned resource for jazz education. As of 2006 more than 120 of these collections have been published by Aebersold, who currently teaches musical improvisation at the University of Louisville. He is also an adept pianist, bassist, and banjoist.

Red Callender, (born in 1916 in Haynesville, Virginia - died in 1992 in Saugus, California) was a great jazz musician and played contra-bass and tuba. His famous for his work for Duke Ellington's Orchestra and the Louis Armstrong All-Stars. In the early '40s, he played in the Lester and Lee Young band, and then formed his own trio. Callender, in the 1940s, recorded with Nat King Cole, Erroll Garner, Charlie Parker, Wardell Gray, and Dexter Gordon, among many other big jazz musicians.

Monty Rex Budwig (December 26, 1926-March 9, 1992) was born in Pender, Nebraska. Monty Budwig was a West Coast jazz double bassist (he moved to Los Angeles in 1954). He began playing bass during high school. He also played in the military band while he was enlisted in the Air Force. Budwig recorded and performed with many of the jazz greats (Carmen McRae, Barney Kessel, Woody Herman, Red Norvo, Scott Hamilton, and Shelly Manne).

Henry "Skipper" Franklin is an American jazz double-bassist born in Los Angeles, California in 1940 who is the son of jazz trumpeter Sammy Franklin. Franklin played on Hugh Masekela's 1968 number one single, "Grazing in the Grass," as well as with Masekela's band at the Monterey International Pop Festival in June of 1967. In addition, Franklin has played and recorded with Gene Harris & the Three Sounds, Hampton Hawes, Freddie Hubbard, Bobbi Humphrey, Willie Bobo, …

Tom Abbs (c. Seattle, Washington, 1972) is an American multi-instrumentalist and filmmaker. He works primarily in the fields of jazz, free jazz, and free improvisation, and plays double bass, tuba, cello, violin, didgeridoo, and wooden flute, often playing several of these instruments simultaneously. Originally from Washington state, he has lived New York City since 1991, and is based in Brooklyn, New York. He attended The New School's Jazz and Contemporary Music program, …

Martin Pizzarelli is a jazz double-bassist who is best known for his work with his brother John Pizzarelli, appearing on many of his albums in a swing trio that includes pianists Ray Kennedy and Larry Fuller. He has recorded one album as bandleader for Victoria Records with Kennedy and his father, legendary swing guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli. He was born in Paterson, New Jersey. He has also appeared on all albums released by John's wife, Jessica Molaskey.

Jymie Merritt (born 3 May, 1926) is an American hard bop double-bassist, and a father of a bassist, Mike Merritt, from Late Night with Conan O'Brien. Raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he received early training as a classical bassist (double bass), but he credits the following experiences, which took place in the 1940s, as proving more significant musically: (1) his early gigs in Philadelphia, PA with pianist Hassan Ibn Ali (duo) and (2) jam sessions, …

"Big Eye" Louis Nelson Deslile (28 January, 1885 - 20 August, 1949) was an early dixieland jazz clarinetist. He also played string bass, banjo, and accordion professionally on occasion. Nelson Deslile was born and spent most of his life in New Orleans, Louisiana. He studied clarinet with the elder Lorenzo Tio, and was working professionally in Storyville music venues by the age of 15. He developed an early style of hot playing in the earliest days of jazz, …

Rodney Whitaker is associate professor of double bass and director of jazz studies at the Michigan State University School of Music. Whitaker is one of the leading performers and teachers of jazz double bass in the United States. He is a member of the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, and received national recognition performing with the Terence Blanchard Quintet. He is also the conductor of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra Civic Jazz Orchestra.

Jack Lesberg (February 14 1920 - September 17 2005) was a jazz double-bassist. He performed with many famous jazz musicians, including Louis Armstrong, Sarah Vaughan, and Benny Goodman. Lesberg had the misfortune of playing in the Cocoanut Grove on the night in 1942 when 492 people lost their lives in a fire.

Clarence Seay Seay has been an acoustic bassist with the Wallace Roney Quintet for over 15 years. Seay, also known as “Big C”, is a disciple of the Paul Chambers school of jazz bass playing which features a style of walking harmonically inventive bass lines in a robust manner by positioning strings relatively high from the fingerboard- a practice mostly abandoned by modern bass players because of its physical difficulty.